Home sales increased in January compared to the same month last year, according to the first housing report of the year from the Brunswick County Association of Realtors.

The number of units sold increased 8 percent, from 242 in January last year to 262 last month, while the number of listings fell 11 percent, dropping from 557 to 496, according to a news release Tuesday.

“Brunswick County’s residential real estate market continued its trend of steady, consistent growth in the first month of 2018,” said BCAR CEO Cynthia Walsh in the release. “The fact that the number of units sold continues to increase while the number of new listings continues to decrease points to a strong seller's market in 2018. If the current trends continue, we could see an absorption rate as low as three months by December.”

The average sales price for January jumped from $239,739 in 2017 to $269,320 in 2018, a 12 percent increase. Total sales volume last month was 21 percent higher than the same period last year, increasing from $58 million to $70.56 million, according to the release.

The release said that the absorption rate, which measures how long it would take to sell the existing inventory at the current rate of sales, dropped to five months, a nearly 28 decrease from January 2017.

Walsh said there are fewer than 2,000 active listings in Brunswick County.

"The average number of days a home spends on market is hovering at around three months," the release stated.

Walsh said February also appears to be shaping up to be a good month for residential sales in the county. She noted in the release that pending sales are up 30 percent over last year, and 35 percent of those are homes priced at $300,000 or higher.